Coronavirus curtails daily life

Restaurants and bars in at least nine states are closing to dine-in customers as local officials take more dramatic steps to slow the spread of COVID-19. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday announced it was postponing oral arguments scheduled for March, while New York City will shutter its public school system—the largest in the nation—as early as Tuesday. Additional closures, postponements, and cancellations are expected after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday recommended against holding any gatherings of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks. Anthony Fauci, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, said a 14-day national lockdown with forced closures of public gathering places may prove necessary.

More nations restricted travel as the number of infected people worldwide exceeded 175,000. In Switzerland, the city of Geneva took the strongest step by banning gatherings of more than five people. With more than 1,800 deaths, Italy accounts for more than a quarter of the global death toll from the disease.

Any progress on a vaccine? Researchers in Washington state were preparing on Monday to give a dose to the first participant in clinical trials for a vaccine against the new coronavirus. But public officials said it could still take a year or more to fully validate a new vaccine. Meanwhile, the number of deaths in the United States neared 70 on Monday morning, as the disease had infected more than 4,000 Americans.

Dig deeper: Read Jamie Dean’s report about how churches across the country responded to gathering restrictions on Sunday.